1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flat screen autostereoscopic device for use in television, computer graphics, and the like viewing applications.
2. Prior Art
A simple, low cost autostereoscopic system capable of providing clear, bright, high resolution images has long been a goal of the television and computer graphics industry. Previous attempts to produce such a device have experienced the problems of high development costs, expensive equipment, e.g., vibrating components or lenses of various sorts, and bulky size. However, recent developments in the field of transparent flat screen image displays promise low cost, simple and compact autostereoscopic displays which use previously developed components.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,209,747 (Eisler) discloses placing an opaque screen with a plurality of transparent slits in front of a second screen which displays a stereoscopic pair of images made up of alternating strips. Each strip displays a thin vertical section of one of the images. The strips are arranged so that the first displays a section of the right eye image, the second a section of the left eye image, the third a section of the right eye image and so on. The screen with the transparent slits is placed at such a distance in front of the picture display that the observer sees only the right eye strips through the slits with his right eye and only the left eye strips through the slits with his left eye. This technique of displaying stereographic pictures is known as the Hess system. Devices using this technique are very cheap and easy to build. However, for good images the slits have to be very thin, relative to the opaque area between them, and thus a large fraction of the light coming from the display is blocked. This makes it difficult to obtain bright images.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,486 (Eichenlaub) discloses how three dimensional images can be viewed with appropriate perspective from many different angles. These images are created with a pinhole aperture of vertical slit that is scanned across a surface situated in front of a cathode ray tube (CRT) that displays images in rapid succession. The patent also discloses how the light blocking problems associated with small apertures could be eliminated by using a similar optical technique, but employing a moving light source in place of a pinhole and a surface that displays transparent images in place of the prior art CRT. This results in bright, clear three dimensional images.
There continues to be a need for a simple means of forming and viewing stereoscopic images.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a flat screen autostereoscopic display device.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a flat screen autostereoscopic display device which is low in cost and easy to manufacture.
Another object of this invention is to provide a flat screen autostereoscopic display device which is capable of providing large, bright, high resolution images and a wide field of view.